Editor’s Note

On January 1, 2021, Maya Angelou posted the following on her Facebook:

"This New Year needs us all, all our hopes, all our good wishes, all our smiles and all our gestures of forgiveness.  I wish everybody a happy New Year!"

It sent me thinking about the meaning of "new year." We all know about the Pohela Boishakh celebration: the cultural program that takes place at the crack of dawn at the historic Ramna Batamul, the Mangal Shobhajatra starting from the Charukala, a day full of colours, food, blasts of singing and merry-making. However, the way things are in Bangladesh right now, with devastating effects of the third wave of Covid-19, it is hard to call for any kind of public celebration.

We pray for all the departed souls in this pandemic and all those sick and suffering in the hospitals and at homes. We also hope for compassion and understanding from all quarters so that proper measures can be taken to get the "plague" of the 21st Century contained.